Sticky substance on leaves of bonsai ficus

[Laine]

Many leaves of my ficus bonsai tree are covered in a sticky substance. Is it sap? If it is sap, why is it on the leaves? Is it a problem or just something that happens normally?

Note: I spritz him twice a day with water. We have well water, but we have a filter for the house.

[rainbowgardener]

Look very closely for small insects. Aphids, white flies and scale insects secrete honeydew, which is a sweet sticky substance. Scale insects can be hard to spot, they mostly look like little bumps. But that's my guess what's happening.

Let us know what you find.

[TomM]

I highly suspect scale. Use a small magnifier along the sticky leaves, especially the stem area and underside. Bumps, tiny disk or shell-like brown spots indicate an infestation of scale.

If the problem is "light" they might be treated with soapy water (on a Q-tip) but more often they get into the plant and soil, lay eggs, and require a systemic insecticide with multiple applications to really get rid of all of them.

There are many types of scale and they love ficus, fukien tea, schefflara and other tropical trees. So much so that I have nearly given up on trops. But not quite.